Margaret Banner Allen

Mrs. Allen was born December 14, 1925 in Fort Worth, Texas, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Clinton Banner. After spending her childhood in Fort Worth, she attended the University of Texas where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority.

Mrs. Allen married Heyward Allen, Sr. and moved to Athens in 1948 where she became an active community volunteer. She was a member and President of the Athens Junior Assembly and the Junior Ladies Garden Club. For many years, she served as an advisor to Kappa Alpha Theta, Gamma Delta Chapter, at the University of Georgia.

Mrs. Allen was a devoted and enthusiastic communicant of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church for sixty-two years. She served on the vestry for three terms and helped develop the gardens there. She also attended St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church.

Affectionately known as Peggy, she had a great love of family, friends, faith and fellowship. An avid gardener, a generous hostess, and a loving friend, she was an inspiration and an anchor to all who knew her. She had “a rich and thrilling experience living in Georgia and the South.”

Mrs. Allen is survived by her daughter, Suzanne Banner Allen, her husband Peter Randolph Taylor; her son Alexander Banner Allen and his children, Elizabeth Westbrook Allen, and Clinton Banner Allen; and, her son Benjamin Heyward Allen, Jr., his wife Lucy Erwin Allen, and their children, Corinne Chadwick Allen, her husband Harold Lee Smith, Jr., Benjamin Heyward Allen, III, his wife, Wendy Hanson Allen, and Lucy Banner Allen Gillis and her husband, James Lester Gillis IV; and, two great-grandsons, Claren and Seabright Smith.

There will be private burial services on Monday morning March 12th. A memorial service will be held at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 498 Prince Avenue, Athens, GA at 3:00 P.M. Monday afternoon followed by a reception in the Common Room.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be given to the Emmanuel Episcopal Church 498 Prince Avenue Athens, GA 30601 or to St. Gregory the Great Episcopal Church 3195 Barnett Shoals Road Athens, GA 30605. Bernstein Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.